To live in Korea with your Korean spouse, you need a spouse visa (F-6). The steps are: ① make your marriage valid in both countries, with a marriage certificate from the state where you married or a marriage registration at a Korean city or district office ② get an apostille from that state's Secretary of State for your US documents and translate them into Korean ③ apply for the visa with income, housing and communication evidence. K-VISA quotes its fee after reviewing your requirements, and we refund 100% of the fee if the visa is denied due to K-VISA's fault.
Marriage license requirements and waiting periods differ from state to state.
US state marriage lawsUS documents get an apostille from the Secretary of State of the state where you married.
Apostille Convention memberIf you marry in the US first, the marriage must also be reported to Korea within 3 months.
Korean Family Relationship Registration ActWhat the visa review checks: income, a home to share, and whether you can communicate
Korean Ministry of Justice F-6 standardsIt looks complicated, but you only need to remember three steps. ① Marriage registration → ② Document certification → ③ Visa application
The US is a member of the Apostille Convention. But the apostille comes from the state that issued the document, not from the federal government.
| 🇰🇷 Korea | 🇺🇸 United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age to marry | 18 for both men and women | Varies by state (18 in most) |
| How you marry | Submit a marriage report to a city or district office | Marriage license from the county → ceremony → marriage certificate |
| Using foreign documents | US documents → state apostille + translation | Korean documents → English translation |
| Marrying in Korea | Family relation certificates | Affidavit at the US Embassy in Seoul and other marriage-eligibility documents |
| If you married in another country | Report to Korea within 3 months | Recognized if valid under the law of the place you married |
K-VISA's service fee depends on where you are and your documents, so we quote it after reviewing your requirements. Actual costs such as government fees, translation and apostilles are separate. Consultation and pre-check are free, and we refund 100% of the fee if the visa is denied due to K-VISA's fault.
After your marriage is valid in both countries, your Korean spouse gets a Visa Issuance Confirmation in Korea, or you apply for the spouse visa (F-6) at the Korean Embassy or a Korean consulate in the US. If you are already in Korea, we check whether you can switch to a marriage visa at the immigration office. Once the visa is issued, you enter Korea and complete alien registration.
Your Korean spouse needs a passport, basic, family relation and marriage relation certificates (detailed), income and employment documents, and housing documents. You need a passport and your marriage certificate, which gets a state apostille and is then translated into Korean. A criminal record check is added if required, and you both submit a statement of how you met, plus photos and message records.
Yes. If you married in the US first, the marriage must be reported to Korea within 3 months. Get a state apostille on your county marriage certificate, translate it, and submit it to a Korean embassy or consulate in the US or to a city or district office in Korea.
From the Secretary of State of the state that issued your marriage certificate. A county document alone isn't enough, and how to apply and how long it takes differ by state, so we sort it out with you in the pre-check.
Along with your passport, get a sworn affidavit on marriage eligibility at the US Embassy in Seoul. Translate it, then register your marriage at a city or district office in Korea.
We review whether overseas income can be accepted, depending on how it is proven. We also look at whether assets or other evidence can make up the difference.
You just need to show that the two of you can talk in a shared language such as English. We'll tell you which evidence to prepare.
If the English name on your passport, marriage certificate and Korean documents doesn't match, the application can easily get stuck. Before you apply, we compare the spelling on every document and tell you what to prepare.
You complete the missing documents or requirements and apply again. And if the visa is denied due to K-VISA's fault, we refund 100% of the fee.
Sources: Sources: Korean Ministry of Justice standards for the marriage migrant (F-6) visa, Korean Act on the Registration of Family Relationships (reporting a marriage made abroad), US state marriage laws, the Apostille Convention (Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents). Standards may change with amendments to laws and notices, and individual cases are confirmed in consultation.
Updated 2026.10.20